In semiconductor manufacturing, the temperature of a dispense fluid must by highly regulated. Typically, a thermal management subsystem that is part of the overall semiconductor manufacturing system is used to heat or chill a dispense fluid to a desired temperature. Typical thermal management subsystems include a tank of the dispense fluid, a pump, a filter, a heat exchanger and a flow controller. In operation, the tank is filled with a dispense fluid. The pump creates a pressure differential to move the fluid from the tank to the heat exchanger. The dispense fluid increases or decreases in temperature as it passes through the heat exchanger. After one or passes through the heat exchanger, the dispense fluid reaches a target temperature.
One problem with thermal management subsystems is determining the components to use. Generally, a particular semiconductor manufacturing process will require that a particular fluid be dispensed at a particular temperature. The temperature of the dispense fluid is based on the temperature and volume of fluid in the tank, the heat imparted by the pump, the heat lost or gained at the filter, the heat transferred at the heat exchanger and the amount of fluid recirculated. A factor particularly important to many semiconductor manufacturers in heating or cooling a dispense fluid is the amount of time it takes for the fluid to reach the dispense temperature as reduced time will lead to greater throughput.
Generally, the tank volume, pump and filter are selected based on the amount and type of fluid being dispensed. Therefore, selection the appropriate heat exchanger and flow of cooling/heating fluid through the heat exchanger are the most significant aspects of optimizing the thermal management subsystem. Suppliers of thermal management subsystems currently set up prototypes of the subsystem in a lab and empirically determine which heat exchanger meets the customer's requirements. This is an expensive and time consuming process for the supplier. Because a larger heat exchanger can work with a larger range of process parameters, suppliers often select heat exchangers that are larger than required. This reduces the amount of time required to select a heat exchanger, but leads to selection of a heat exchanger that is larger and more expensive than needed for the thermal management subsystem. Accordingly a system is needed to better optimize and select the components of a thermal management subsystem.